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Shuttle takes quiet nettops down the Cedar Trail, intros XS35V3 and XS35GTA V3
Nettops have slipped a bit out of vogue, but Shuttle is keeping the flame alive for those who like their desktops tiny and hushed. The XS35V3 and XS35GTA V3 have moved on to more contemporary Cedar Trail-era, 2.13GHz Atom D2700 processors that keep the power draw to a fanless 27W, even when everything is churning at full bore. That limit might get tested with the GTA variant, which brings in Radeon HD 7410M graphics for a lift to 3D performance, but neither mini desktop will exactly make the power company beg for mercy. Either is a barebones kit with the laptop-sized hard drive, optical drive and OS left to the buyer -- if you don't get them at the same time, you'll have only the HDMI, VGA, USB and card reader to keep you company. Europeans are currently the only ones getting a crack, where it costs €172 pre-tax ($214) for the XS35V3 and €233 ($290) to get its faster GTA cousin.
Orange San Diego review: Intel does phones, finally
The first generation of Intel-powered Android phones has arrived, and while the chip maker doesn't appear to be claiming that its initial efforts are world-beaters, we've been promised a chipset that prioritizes what people want most: capable web browsing, strong camera performance and robust battery life. Although we've sampled plenty of incremental versions of this Medfield tech, Orange UK's San Diego is the first finished device to land for review. Priced at £200 ($308) it joins a large spread of wallet-friendly, entry-level smartphones in Orange's lineup. With a (1024 x 600) 4-inch LCD, 8-megapixel camera with flash, micro-HDMI port and 1GB of RAM, it looks to be a respectable, if middle-of-the-road, Android device. But the focus here lays with the 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z2460 CPU and whether it delivers on those performance and battery life promises. Does Intel have a handle on mobile processors? Is the San Diego, near-identical to Intel's own reference model, going to be attractive enough for buyers? You'll find our verdict after the break.%Gallery-158096%
Orange San Diego Medfield phone: a closer look at Computex 2012 (update: video)
Well what do we have here? Yes, it's the Orange San Diego we first saw at Mobile World Congress and it's going on sale in the UK today for £200. This isn't just yet another Android smartphone, but one of the first Medfield-based handsets on the market. We caught this pre-production unit chilling out at the Intel booth here at Computex 2012 and decided to go up close and personal. First impressions? It's thin, light and feels great in the hand thanks to a pleasant soft-touch back. The Gigabyte-made device packs a 4-inch glass-capacitive 1024x600-pixel LCD (that's 300dpi), an 8-megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash, a 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z2460 CPU, 1GB of RAM and 16GB of built-in storage. While the screen looks decent enough, it falls somewhere in the middle of the pack in terms of viewing angles. The phone features Android 2.3.7 (Gingerbread) and runs most apps from the Google Play store directly via an emulation layer. Performance matched prior benchmarks and was on-par with current mid-range ARM-based Android handsets -- the experience was mostly smooth, but we noticed some lag when scrolling and zooming pages in the web browser. Battery life remains the major outstanding question when it comes to Medfield handsets, so expect more details once we have our very own review unit. In the meantime, check out the gallery below and hit the break for our hands-on video.%Gallery-157275%
Lenovo demos ThinkPad tablet running Windows 8, we go hands-on
Yes, another Windows 8 tablet. After getting hands-on with some new devices from Acer, ASUS and Samsung, you might already having trouble telling one device from the other. You might even say the same about Lenovo, which is showing off an early-stage tablet here at Computex. The difference? We can't remember the last time we saw even a Windows 7 slate by Lenovo. So when the company trots out one running Win8, it doesn't just feel like a mandatory upgrade from one OS to another; it feels like Lenovo entering a new category. That tablet you see up there won't go on sale for awhile -- heck, it doesn't even have an official name yet. But we were still able to get a feel for the design and basic specs after handling it for a few minutes. If you're a ThinkPad fan, a Windows fan or both, even, head past the break for a preview of what's to come later this year.%Gallery-156994%
DRS unveils trio of ruggedized tablets in Windows and Android flavors
Drops, shocks, heavy vibrations, dust, water and temperatures in the extremes -- just the kind of punishment you'd expect a DRS Armor slab to put up with, and the firm's latest do so without the briefcase-like look. With MIL-STD 810G certification and an IP65 rating, the 7-inch multi-touch slates can withstand some rough and tumble -- though there's no word if they can pass the tesla coil benchmark. At 1.3 pounds, the Android 3.2-loaded X7ad squeezes out eight hours of battery life with a 1GHz dual core Tegra 2 processor. Its Windows-minded doppelganger, the X7et, holds a six-hour charge, sports an Atom Z670 processor and tips the scales at just under 1.5 pounds. If the chunkier look strikes your fancy, the 12.1 inch X12kb has you covered -- though at 5.5 pounds, it's the lightest MIL-STD-810G certified convertible tablet currently available. The swivel screened slate has up to eight hours of battery life, a Core i5 560UMCPU processor, a polarized LCD glass display, a spillproof keyboard and touchpad in addition to a one-click stealth mode that disables light and sound for "covert operations." With GPS, WiFi and Gobi Wireless Broadband options, all three of these are ready for missions at home and abroad, however you might need that stealth function to find out the (currently unspecified) pricing.
Toshiba bows out of netbooks in the US, sees Ultrabooks as the wave of the future
The pace of netbook launches has visibly slowed between the dual-pronged pressures of tablets and ultrabooks, and at least for Americans, it's about to get a lot slower. A Toshiba executive has warned that there aren't any plans to bring more netbooks to the US; the NB510's presence at CES this year is now as close as Yankees will get to any more Atom-powered notebooks from the outfit. Instead, all of Toshiba's enthusiasm for ultraportables in the country will be spent on Ultrabooks like the Portege Z835. It's a sad day for those who like their computers tiny, especially as it hikes the minimum price for a super-light Toshiba laptop to $800, but it's hard to ignore a rapidly declining market. We also imagine that Toshiba will gladly steer you to one of its Excite tablets if you're looking for the basics in a small shape.
Intel posts x86-friendly Android 4.0 image, lets you feel the need for speed
Android developers are all too familiar with not-so-hot emulator performance, so it's a relief that there's now an system image in a native x86 for testing. While you'll still likely want to test on ARM, the x86 image will both help ferret out bugs specific to Intel's architecture as well as provide a much faster experience debugging apps now that the ARM-to-Intel translation isn't needed on top of running a whole second operating system. It's not perfectly up to date, running on Android 4.0.3, but it's close enough that the environment will mimic much of what users see -- and a big help if you're jumping into writing specifically for Intel devices. If speed is of the essence, or you're not keen on importing a Lava Xolo X900, you just need to update the SDK Manager to start testing with an Intel-flavored green robot.
J&W announces M001 Cedar Trail nettop, to keep desks and ears happy
If you like your computing to be neither seen, nor heard (or less seen and less heard), J&W has announced another bantam slab of nettop for your consideration. On the inside there's a choice of Cedar Trail D2550, N2800 and N2600 dual-core options, with support for up to 4GB of DDR3 RAM. Diminutive machines don't mean lack of I/O, and in this case you'll be getting three USB ports, a multicard reader, LAN, HDMI, VGA and RS232. Fanlesstech points out that it's actually a nano-ITX system, which measuring in at only 135 x 128 x 45 mm means it can be tucked away into even more convenient crevices. Just make sure not to hide it away too securely, else that 802.11.n WiFi might suffer.
Intel knocks ARM's legacy app dilemma in Windows 8, says it has a 'big uphill fight' ahead
Intel has typically kept its cool in responding to Windows 8 on ARM, but that war of words (and chips) just got a little more heated at an investor meeting. CEO Paul Otellini saw his more mobile-oriented competition facing a "big uphill fight" without the presence of legacy Windows app support. That's a big drawback for corporate buyers that have legions of traditional apps they want to keep running, the executive said. He also used the opportunity to rib ARM over a lack of any existing Windows hardware. There's certainly no question that Intel has a head start in Windows 8 support, but the remarks do come with a degree of irony. Intel is cutting into ARM's territory with Atom-based Android phones, and while it won't have as much of a problem with legacy OS support as ARM will with Windows, Intel has a lot to prove on its own.
Ariel Atom-inspired simulator touts world's first 180-degree spherical projector screen (video)
The Ariel Atom is arguably one of the greatest bangs for the buck in terms of sports car performance, so it's no surprise that the automaker has paired up with Motion Simulation to design a particularly special simulator for both hardcore fans as well pro racing drivers and pilots. The TL1 has the world's first 180-degree spherical projection unit (technically, three projector screens acting as one) to give you that advance view of the apex without display bezels getting in the way. Its seat not only adjusts to fit different breeds of cars and aircraft but, if you opt for it, tucks in a motion transducer that will properly jolt you when you hit a bump in the road. What may please extra-serious racing game fans the most is the off-the-shelf nature of the computer needed to drive the TL1 properly: as long as your graphics hardware can handle the extra-wide 5760 x 1200 resolution, any typical Windows XP or Windows 7 desktop will do. The real question is whether your wallet can handle it, as the £11,500 ($18,573) PC-less starting price will make it tempting to buy a real Atom instead.
Intel's first smartphone coming soon: Xolo X900 gets April 24 release date
Intel's first Atom smartphone is now available, and it's Lava's Xolo X900. It has managed to outpace both Lenovo's K800 and Orange's Santa Clara, arriving on the Indian carrier next Monday. When we handled the Xolo X900 in Barcelona a few months ago, the 1.6 GHz Atom Z2460 processor seemed pleasantly responsive, although we were less enamoured with the phone's middling build quality. The four-inch 1024 x 600 display is accompanied by a one-megapixel camera on the front, plus a primary 8-megapixel shooter on the back capable of burst-shot photography. Despite its plastic build, Intel's new mobile offering won't come all that cheap; the Xolo X900 by Lava is priced off-contract at around 22,000 INR ($420). At the moment, we're still waiting to hear how Orange and Lenovo will price up their own Medfield-powered offerings -- both are expected to emerge in the next few months.
Flawed diamonds are perfect ingredients for quantum computing, just add time travel
Ready to suspend your brain cells in a superposition of disbelief? Good, because the latest news published in Nature is that diamonds are a quantum computer's best friend -- particularly if they're flawed. An international team of scientists sought out sub-atomic impurities in a 1mm-thick fragment of over-priced carbon and used these as qubits to perform successful calculations. A "rogue" nitrogen nucleus provided one qubit, while a free electron became a second. Unlike previous attempts at solid-state quantum computing, this new effort used an extra technique to protect the system from decoherence errors: microwave pulses were fired at the electron qubit to "time-reverse" inconsistencies in its spinning motion. Don't fully get it? Us neither. In any case, it probably won't stop jewellers tut-tutting to themselves.
Lenovo K800's initial benchmark scores look promising, but not ambitious
If Lenovo's sticking to its promise, it should only be another two months maximum before its Intel Medfield-powered K800 smartphone debuts in China. Until then, we won't know the full potential of the 1.6GHz Atom Z2460 powering Ice Cream Sandwich, but we do have the next best thing for now: what we've just obtained are some benchmark results from a K800 prototype with Android 2.3.7, and while the graphics performance wasn't top notch this time round, the general score performance came close to that of the Galaxy Note (powered by a 1.4GHz dual-core Exynos chipset). However, the K800 did beat pretty much everyone -- including the brand-spanking-new One X and One S from HTC -- in the SunSpider 0.91 Javascript test, where it only took 1,270ms to complete! What remains to be seen is whether Medfield will really deliver a better battery performance than its competitors; so until we find the answer (along with improved scores) on a final unit, you'll just have to make do with our list of scores after the break.
Intel and Nissan collaborate on Infiniti's 2013 infotainment system, Atom inside
Intel is notorious for marking its territory on a wide array of consumer gear, but one piece of kit that's unlikely to sport that famous sticker is the infotainment system of Nissan's 2013 Infiniti lineup. Unveiled today at the New York International Auto Show, the in-vehicle computer represents a collaboration between Intel and Nissan and was showcased within the Infiniti LE concept vehicle. On the inside lurks an Atom CPU, which bucks the general trend toward ARM architecture in these systems. Both companies put their collective heads together to create cloud-based services for smartphone users such as video surveillance, vehicle control and monitoring. As another nice refinement, users will also be able to use their phone's NFC capabilities for keyless entry to the carriage -- no word on whether it can similarly activate the ignition. You'll find the full PR after the break.
ITG xpPhone 2 hands-on: Windows 7 on a smartphone
We got a little worried when ITG missed its January unveiling for the xpPhone 2, but yesterday, this Windows 7-powered smartphone finally made its debut public appearance in Guangzhou, and we happened to be there to scoop up a demo unit. Since we last came across the second-gen xpPhone, its ambitious Chinese manufacturer has dished out more detailed specs: the 17.5mm-thick device comes with a 4.3-inch 800 x 480 LCD made by Sharp, multitouch input, an Intel Atom Z5xx series processor up to 2GHz, up to 2GB of RAM, up to 112GB of SSD made by Silicon Storage Technology, microSD expansion and a multipurpose HDMI Micro socket (not HDMI Mini as we mistakenly said in our video after the break) that takes care of video, audio, data (USB 2.0) and power. Read on to find out what we think of this weird creature.
Researchers capture first-ever images of atoms moving inside a molecule
The headline sums it up nicely but really, those photographic acrobatics account for only part of the story. Starting from the beginning, a research team led by Louis DiMauro of Ohio State University used an "ultrafast" laser to knock an electron out of its orbit, which scattered off the molecule as it fell back toward its natural path. That ripple effect you see in that photo up there represents any changes the molecule went through during the quadrillionth of a second that transpired between laser pulses. Yes, that's the kind of rare, psychedelic shot that's sure to earn DiMauro and team bragging rights, but the scientists also say this technique could have practical implications for observing -- and ultimately manipulating -- chemical reactions at an atomic level. Of course, it could be a long time yet before scientists analyze complex proteins in such detail: for the purposes of this experiment, the researchers stuck with simple nitrogen and oxygen molecules, with which chemistry scholars are already quite familiar. In fact, the researchers don't elaborate at all on specific studies where this technique might be useful, but you might want to hit up the source link nonetheless for some of the more technical details of how they pulled off this experiment in the first place.
Mobile World Congress 2012: best of show
Mobile World Congress 2012 was a massively exciting show and true to form brought us so much new kit to be excited about in early 2012. From Intel's Medfield launch, a 41-megapixel smartphone, a new generation of personal hotspots and even engineered metals using micro arc oxidation, there was never a dull moment. Highlighting what was best, most innovative, or interesting is a tough nut but we've done our best to point out the highlights using our impressions -- and the occasional arm-wrestling match -- to chose the finalists amongst the products and our Editor's more notable achievements. Fly through to the next page and have a look at our takeaways from this, the most intense mobile tech show of the year.
Lava brings Intel-based smartphones to India with the XOLO X900
Intel has already announced a partnership with Orange to bring the first Intel-based smartphone to Europe, and it's now also announced a deal with Lava International to bring a similar phone to India. Like the Orange phone, this new XOLO X900 is based on Intel's reference design, and packs a 1.6GHz Atom Z2460 processor, a high-res 4-inch display (presumably the same 600 x 1024), front and rear-facing cameras, support for HSPA+ networks, built-in NFC, and HDMI connectivity -- plus what appears to be stock Android 2.3 for an OS, with no mention of a possible ICS upgrade just yet. Still no firm word on launch details for the phone either, but Intel says it's expected to be available early in the second quarter of this year.
Intel details Medfield plans, announces a trio of phone-friendly Atoms
The age of Medfield is upon us. At Mobile World Congress Intel took the wraps off its smartphone platform, ditched the code name and gave us some details on three different Atom chips destined for handsets. The Z2460 is currently shipping and serves as the heart of the reference platform that devices from Lenovo, Orange, Lava and ZTE are based on. The processor can hit clock speeds of 2GHz and packs an Intel XMM 6260 HSPA+ radio. The next generation part, dubbed the Z2580 will supposedly double performance and gets upgraded to an XMM 7160, which adds LTE to its cellular arsenal. Down the road Chipzilla also plans to introduce a "value smartphone" processor, dubbed the Z2000. Clocked at only 1GHz and going with a 6265 HSPA+ radio, the goal is to power Android phones that can be sold for less than $150 -- unsubsidized. Sounds crazy, but it's true. To bring this vision to fruition Intel has added Orange, ZTE, Lava and Visa to its list of partners. Check out the PR after the break for more details.
Visa certifies Intel's Smartphone Reference Device, payWave hits Medfield
Sure, if you're running a Google Wallet-having device you're already down with Visa's payWave wireless payment service, but we can now confidently say that Intel-based smartphones will also be similarly enabled, even if they haven't been blessed by the Big G. At its Mobile World Congress press conference, Intel just announced that its Medfield-based Smartphone Reference Device, the one we saw previously at CES, is now Visa-certified. Users will be able to tie their credit card to their handset and, once done, make secure payments to retail terminals over NFC. Your wallet of the future just got a little bit lighter.
